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New Yorkers on both sides of the aisle have been anxiously waiting to see who would blink in the much-anticipated summit between incoming mayor Zohran Mamdani and NYPD Commissioner Jessica Tisch. Would Tisch stay on for the sake of New York City and try to replicate her success at keeping crime down, or would the self-proclaimed democratic socialist make a list of conditions so egregious that Tisch would have no choice but to turn the job down. At 8am on Wednesday morning, Tisch finally made her decision: she will stay on as commissioner. Former NYPD Commissioner Bill Bratton appeared on 710 WOR’s Mendte in the Morning program, initially to discuss what he thinks the NYPD in New York will look like once Mamdani takes office in January. However, he called back after Tisch’s announcement was made to break down what that means for New York collectively, and for “Jessie” personally.
Bratton breathed a huge sigh of relief for host Larry Mendte, saying that Tisch and Mamdani obviously found common ground that most New Yorkers can accept: “It’ll be interesting as to what that common ground is, common cause. Certainly, the members of the police department, their unions, will be very happy. I think that the majority of the public [and] the majority of you in the media [as well]. Those that might not be so happy are a lot of the mayor-elect’s supporters, who are opposed to her, but again, I think he’s looking out for the best interests, overall, of the city and its many residents.”
Despite the huge gap between Tisch’s and Mamdani’s views on the role of the NYPD, Bratton feels the mayor saw the reasoning behind leaving Tisch in charge. “I would have to assume that there were some negotiations and that there was some coming together in the sense of her concerns [and] his priorities. I have counseled that I would hope that the mayor-elect has a lot of things on his plate- leave her to run the police department. She has done a great job; crime is down… so I think the mayor-elect probably figured this is not the time to change horses in mid-stream… it could be a very good few months ahead.”
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